I received a call yesterday from a university classmate, who is now working as a researcher at a top research institute in the western part of Singapore, seeking my views on an ‘investment scheme’ he came across recently.

A professor friend of his, who had just came to Singapore from Taiwan, was approached by sales staff of a firm. The firm is offering an ‘investment scheme’ that generates an guaranteed return of 15%/pa! They even claimed to be regulated by the authorities in Singapore! Among the schemes offered by the firm are government listed buildings in Germany.

Actually, this ‘investment scheme’ is not new. This is not the first time I have people asking me about this type of investment. I had tried to do some due diligence on the firm and the products before. I can find nothing credible on the so called government listed buildings. There are a few firms ...